Argentine Lionel Messi will become the oldest outfield player to participate in a World Cup final on Sunday, while Spain's Lamine Yamal aims to join the elite of teenage title winners.

The match at MetLife Stadium will be the first encounter between Messi, Argentina's captain, and the player who succeeded him as the new golden boy of Barcelona's academy.

No player has taken part in a World Cup final at an older age than Messi, except Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff, who was 40 in 1982.

In stark contrast, Yamal only turned 19 last Monday, a day before Spain beat France 2-0 in the semi-final.

Everything has happened at lightning speed for Yamal, who made his Barcelona debut at 15.

He made his international debut for Spain at 16, and shortly after turning 17, he helped La Roja beat England in the Euro 2024 final, where he was named best young player of the tournament.

Yamal finished runner-up to Frenchman Ousmane Dembélé in last year's Ballon d'Or race, and now has a chance to join the select group of players who have won the World Cup as teenagers.

Messi said on Friday: 'He is a global icon at 19, and he has a chance to achieve something historic, but we will do everything we can to stop him.'

Yamal had suffered an injury before the World Cup, and there were even doubts about his participation after he missed the end of the season with Barcelona.

Yamal admitted: 'I was afraid the injury was serious, and above all I feared that even if it wasn't, I might have a setback and ultimately miss the World Cup.'

- 'Genius' -

Yamal only came on as a substitute in Spain's opening match, a goalless draw with Cape Verde, and was substituted at half-time after scoring in the 4-0 thrashing of Saudi Arabia in the second round.

Since then he has started every match, albeit without the devastating impact he had hoped to make.

Spain have lacked the direct play that made them so dangerous at Euro 2024 as a result, but Yamal will be in the lineup against the defending champions.

At 19 years and six days, he will become the third-youngest player to appear in a World Cup final, while his teammate Pau Cubarsí, six months older, is not far behind.

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente described Yamal during this World Cup as a 'genius' on a par with the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí or the Italian painter, poet and sculptor Michelangelo.

He said: 'They are different. What seems exceptional to us does not seem so to them.'

- Pelé and Bergomi -

The only two players to have played in a World Cup final at a younger age are Pelé, who was 17 years and 249 days old when he scored twice in Brazil's 1958 win over Sweden, and Giuseppe Bergomi.

The latter was 18 when he played in Italy's win over West Germany in 1982.

So far, only eight players have won the World Cup as teenagers, while Pelé and France's Kylian Mbappé are the only ones to have scored in the final before turning 20.

Mbappé was 19 when France won the title in 2018, but his hopes of winning it again this year were dashed by Yamal and Spain in the semi-final.

Now Yamal hopes to shatter Messi's dream of winning a second World Cup title, and thereby cement his status as the next true global star in football.

Remarkably, they face each other on Saturday, about two decades after a photo was taken of a 20-year-old Messi bathing a five-month-old Yamal in a blue plastic tub as part of a UNICEF photo shoot.

Messi said: 'That photo is amazing.'

Former French star Thierry Henry, a World Cup winner at 20, added in a statement to Fox: 'Lamine Yamal against Leo Messi: that's the future against the past, the present, the future, and eternity.'